Because a government service which is about as old as the country itself is not allowed to operate without a profit motive. This is why the Marines refused to take out the pirates at Tripoli and why the State Department doesn't have an embassy in Iceland.

fusillade762:Congress's plan to kill a constitutionally mandated service appears to be working. Why does Congress hate the Constitution?

The postal clause does not mandate a postal service. It's an enumerated power of congress that they have the power to regulate the postal service, including defining mail routes and designating areas for post offices. It does not have to be a public agency (it's not) and it could be shunted off to the back of 7-11's nationwide if congress so wished.

The postal clause authorizes the creation of a postal service, it does not mandate it.

Lsherm:fusillade762: Congress's plan to kill a constitutionally mandated service appears to be working. Why does Congress hate the Constitution?

The postal clause does not mandate a postal service. It's an enumerated power of congress that they have the power to regulate the postal service, including defining mail routes and designating areas for post offices. It does not have to be a public agency (it's not) and it could be shunted off to the back of 7-11's nationwide if congress so wished.

The postal clause authorizes the creation of a postal service, it does not mandate it.

Congress is also authorized, but not required, to fund an Army, but you never hear that argument applied to the Army.The postal service is really a form of infrastructure. Every other civilized nation has one, there isn't any good reason to hand it all over to other providers that won't do what the USPS does.

fusillade762:Congress's plan to kill a constitutionally mandated service appears to be working. Why does Congress hate the Constitution?

The funny thing is they're doing it wrong (again).

If they wanted to be absolute pedantic constitutionalists, they'd support stripping the USPS of its package delivery aspect and only allowing "mail" in the smallest, most literal sense: 1st class letters.

The big companies don't want to have to deliver one phone bill to Uncle Jerry out on county road 900 north.

According to the National Association of Letter carriers, we're actually something along the lines of two BILLION above expenses a year. Meaning, we aren't borrowing money from congress, we're simply not paying people who aren't born yet.

whatshisname:I can never understand why the US Postal Service still delivers on Saturday. Who the hell needs mail on Saturday? has to fund it's pension for the next generation today, besides the fact the GOP critters want to give it a huge debt as a reason to kill it

MrEricSir:If it were possible I'd pull a Kramer and cancel my mail altogether. It's just food for the recycling bin at this point.

Same here. Everything except my sewer bill since those assholes refuse to get a website to pay online, and the only reason I have to have paper checks. I always write in the suggestions "get a website to pay bills. It is 2014". Hasn't worked yet...

The post office employes a ton of people and pays decent middle class wages. UPS starts at like $8.50 an hour, hires part time people to avoid paying full time benefits, and they're constantly working on "efficiency" so they can employ fewer people which boosts their stock price, creating "shareholder value."

USPS has no shareholders, so even though they're turning a profit, Congress has enacted draconian pension legislation to make it appear on paper like the post office is losing money, which will allow them to justify gutting it later, laying off people, slashing salary and benefits, and destroying middle class jobs so those people can go move packages in a UPS warehouse for near minimum wage.

We have to create more wealth for a small percentage of the country on the backs of the middle class. And right here, whatshisname shows us the mindset that's driving it.

The post office employes a ton of people and pays decent middle class wages. UPS starts at like $8.50 an hour, hires part time people to avoid paying full time benefits, and they're constantly working on "efficiency" so they can employ fewer people which boosts their stock price, creating "shareholder value."

USPS has no shareholders, so even though they're turning a profit, Congress has enacted draconian pension legislation to make it appear on paper like the post office is losing money, which will allow them to justify gutting it later, laying off people, slashing salary and benefits, and destroying middle class jobs so those people can go move packages in a UPS warehouse for near minimum wage.

We have to create more wealth for a small percentage of the country on the backs of the middle class. And right here, whatshisname shows us the mindset that's driving it.

Indeed. Why should the rich have to fight for their theft? Plenty of plebs out there willing to do it for them for free.

buzzcut73:Lsherm: fusillade762: Congress's plan to kill a constitutionally mandated service appears to be working. Why does Congress hate the Constitution?

The postal clause does not mandate a postal service. It's an enumerated power of congress that they have the power to regulate the postal service, including defining mail routes and designating areas for post offices. It does not have to be a public agency (it's not) and it could be shunted off to the back of 7-11's nationwide if congress so wished.

The postal clause authorizes the creation of a postal service, it does not mandate it.

Congress is also authorized, but not required, to fund an Army, but you never hear that argument applied to the Army.The postal service is really a form of infrastructure. Every other civilized nation has one, there isn't any good reason to hand it all over to other providers that won't do what the USPS does.

I mean, by some people, you do. It would definitely be constitutional to disband the army. Whether you should or not is a policy question. Same for the postal service.

whatshisname:ongbok: whatshisname: I can never understand why the US Postal Service still delivers on Saturday. Who the hell needs mail on Saturday?

A lot of businesses depend on Saturday service.

Which ones?

Anyone that is open on Saturday. Plants get parts delivered to them on Saturdays. When I worked at Chase the credit card payment department said half of the payments came in to them on Friday and Saturday.

ongbok:whatshisname: ongbok: whatshisname: I can never understand why the US Postal Service still delivers on Saturday. Who the hell needs mail on Saturday?

A lot of businesses depend on Saturday service.

Which ones?

Anyone that is open on Saturday. Plants get parts delivered to them on Saturdays. When I worked at Chase the credit card payment department said half of the payments came in to them on Friday and Saturday.

Everyone would adjust, there's no weekend mail in USA's hat and people get along without it.

The processing centers are operating all weekend though, it's just not being delivered to it's final destination.

ongbok:whatshisname: ongbok: whatshisname: I can never understand why the US Postal Service still delivers on Saturday. Who the hell needs mail on Saturday?

A lot of businesses depend on Saturday service.

Which ones?

Anyone that is open on Saturday. Plants get parts delivered to them on Saturdays. When I worked at Chase the credit card payment department said half of the payments came in to them on Friday and Saturday.

Large businesses have PO Boxes at the post office to receive mail and do not wait for the mailman to slowly make his way. They send a clerk a couple of times a day. Much quicker.

simrobert2001:Meh. Thats been the rumor for ages. Its honestly due to a congressional requirement to pay 75 years worth of pentions ahead of time.http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/07/20/how-congress-is-kil li ng-the-post-office/http://www.cnbc.com/id/45018432

According to the National Association of Letter carriers, we're actually something along the lines of two BILLION above expenses a year. Meaning, we aren't borrowing money from congress, we're simply not paying people who aren't born yet.

buzzcut73:Every other civilized nation has one, there isn't any good reason to hand it all over to other providers that won't do what the USPS does.

Quite a few other civilized nations also have postal services that operate out of convenience stores. It's not unheard of. There's nothing in the constitution that says the postal service has to operate in exclusive buildings dedicated to postal services solely by employees who only provide postal services.

Personally, I think they need to keep downsizing the USPS workforce and jack the rates up just to cover the promises they've already made their employees so far. But pretending that it can stay as big as it is now is a non-starter. It's a service, not a jobs program. In a way, the USPS is a victim of its own success - they are by far the most efficient postal system on earth - so as the volume of mail declines the extraneous overhead becomes readily apparent.

So my prescription is raise stamps to a dollar (the horror!), keep reducing the workforce, and in rural areas implement staff rotation across smaller post offices and limit the days they are open to the public. My old post office in Hanover, VA did not need to be open six days a week - there was another one less than 7 miles away, and it was rarely busy. It was exactly the kind of post office the USPS wants to shut down but congress won't let them. If they have to stay open, cut the number of days they have to be open.